Sarfaraz Khan has expressed his excitement about the prospect of sharing the Indian team’s dressing room with the legendary Virat Kohli during the upcoming two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which begins on Thursday, September 19, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
While Sarfaraz has previously shared a dressing room with Kohli during his stint with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), he is particularly thrilled about the opportunity to do so with the Indian national team. Kohli was not part of Sarfaraz’s debut international series earlier this year against England due to personal reasons. However, both players have been selected for the squad for the first Test against Bangladesh.
“His passion and spirit are unmatched. Whenever I saw him, even in the pre-match meetings, he’d take charge and tell everyone how many runs he’d score off a particular bowler and break that down for everyone. To be gutsy enough to stand up and talk with such positivity in front of everyone and then deliver the next day is a very unique ability,” Sarfaraz told JioCinema. (‘Different Style But No…’: Rohit Sharma On Gautam Gambhir-Led Coaching Staff Compared To Rahul Dravid)
“I met him at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium for the first time. I had scored 45 runs in 21 balls here and he bowed to me. I had a lot of fun that day. It was a dream to share an Indian team dressing room. with him it will come true in the future if I get the opportunity,” he added.
Sarfaraz made his international debut for India during the home Test series against England this year which Virat missed due to birth of his second child. In three matches, Sarfaraz has scored 200 runs at an average of 50.00, with three fifties in five innings and best score of 68*.
The two-match series between India and Bangladesh will kick off on September 19 in Chennai at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The second long-format game will begin on September 27 in Kanpur. In his first Test assignment, head coach Gautam Gambhir will be keen on securing a series win.
For Rohit Sharma’s side, this series against Bangladesh will be followed by New Zealand’s tour of India for three Tests starting from October 16, and then the highly anticipated Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia from November 22.
India’s squad for the 1st Test against Bangladesh: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Axar Patel , Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Yash Dayal.